Behavioral Aspects of Cybersecurity

MC2 researchers seek to understand the behavior of both honest users as well as attackers and cybercriminals.

In the first case, faculty are investigating users' perceptions and understanding of security and privacy risks, and how this affects their security- and privacy-related behaviors. In addition, they are developing and evaluating user-facing security tools with the goal of making those tools both easier to use and less likely to be mis-used.

In the second case, researchers are using honeypots and other methods to study actions of attackers as they carry out their attacks. Criminological theories are applied to the data collected, in order to gain a more complete picture of attackers' motivations. A better understanding of hackers' tactics and incentives can lead to better attack-detection mechanisms, as well as novel approaches for disincentivizing malicious behavior.